Page:The Private Life, Lord Beaupré, The Visits (New York, Harper & Brothers, 1893).djvu/219

Rh, in a tone calculated to make him seem no one in particular.

"Is he very poor?" I asked, with a laugh.

"Oh, dear, yes. There are nine of them—fancy!—all boys; and there's nothing for any one but the eldest. He's my husband's nephew—his poor mother's my sister-in-law. He sometimes turns up here when he has nothing better to do; but I don't think he likes us much." I saw she meant that they didn't like him; and I exposed myself to suspicion by asking if he had been with them long; but my friend was not very plastic, and she simplified my whole theory of the case by replying, after she had thought a moment, that she wasn't clear about it—she thought he had come only the morning before. It seemed to me I could safely feel a little further, so I inquired if he were likely to stay many days. "Oh dear, no; he'll go to-morrow!" said my hostess. There was nothing whatever to show that she saw a connection between my odd interest in Mr. Brandon and the subject of our former reference; there was only a quick lucidity on the subject of the young